This is a story about two improbably ambitious, singularly driven and world-bestriding women at the pinnacle of an industry that tends to cannibalize its young. So instantly recognizable are these two music icons (and yes, they most certainly are) that they don’t even require the use of last names — or even their real names, for that matter.
In case you haven’t already guessed, the topic of today’s discussion revolves around two singers who require virtually no introduction: Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. Their musical collaborations — and the occasional fisticuffs seeps into various and sundry gossip blogs — has some comparing them to a modern-day incarnation of the rivalry spearheaded by basketball greats Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Both women have been described as music royalty: a flattering New York Times profile bestowed upon Gaga the title "queen", which is appropriate given that she’s the industry’s reining figurehead of all things outrageous.
Retired computer programmer John Winters filed formal paperwork last week to initiate removing the name of John C. Calhoun from a popular recreational lake in Minnesota. This 65-year-old man believes that the lake should not be named after a South Carolina politician who avidly endorsed slavery. Winters told The Associated Press:
Cut a man’s mama and he’ll cut you, too. Insult Randall Pierce’s black co-worker, and he’ll take up to 20 stab wounds. That is exactly what happened in an altercation between some Minnesota construction workers. Reports say
At least 89 people were killed yesterday in Joplin, Missouri when a massive tornado cut a path nearly 6 miles long and more than a half-mile wide through the center of town.
From the drive-it-yourself Barbie car she had at age 5, to getting serious about racing at the age of 14, 23-year-old Tia Norfleet is out to become the first African-American female to start a NASCAR race. Her ambitions are not too surprising given that
The Great Recession is sometimes known as the “Mancession” because men were hit so hard by unemployment, but a better term for it might be the “Black Mancession.”
While recent data show white men are finding more job opportunities than they did last year, black male job seekers are still
PASCO — There are certain things that stick with Clarence Alford as he recalls the inception of Afro-Americans for an Academic Society back in the 1970s.
The CBS show, 60 Minutes, had a lot to say about Rev. Al Sharpton. It’s an interesting segment about his life, his politics, and how he has changed over the years.
NeNe Leakes attacks Star Jones in front of the executives during the season
by Ayvaunn Penn, YourBlackWorld.com
Tonight on The Celebrity Apprentice finale, NeNe Leakes and Star Jones have at it one last feisty time. When asked by Donald Trump whether Jones bothered her or not, Leakes unforgivingly replied,
When the renowned Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter’s House was asked what he thought about Evangelist Harold Camping’s rapture prediction, his response was,
Maggie Hurt, a former Wake Forest student, appeared on the Today Show yesterday as part of a segment on colleges allegedly turning a blind eye to sexual assault on their campuses. On the show Hurt discussed an incident she claims happened on March 21, 2009, hours after Wake Forest was eliminated from the 2009 NCAA tournament in Miami. She alleges that she was coerced into a room by former Wake Forest basketball player Gary Clark and forced to perform oral sex in a hotel bathroom, while former Wake Forest basketball player Jeff Teague guarded the door.
Dr. Boyce Watkins speculates on why Melissa Harris-Perry has attacked Cornel West without utilizing the facts. Could the two former Princeton colleagues have a past that Harris-Perry hasn’t mentioned?
People always say that your environment is what inspires you to make the decisions that you make. Whether it be good or bad. Some people believe that if you are brought up in a stable home with a mother and father, for females, they are less likely to end up pregnant, more likely to go to college and less likely to end up on welfare. As for males, they are less likely to end up as dead beat dads, more likely to go to college and less likely to end up in prison.
Keeping kids in schools these days is a challenge, with a whopping 1.2 million students dropping out of school every year, according to the White House.
FORT WORTH — Defense attorney David Jones argued Thursday morning that Shantaniqua Nykole Scott did not cause any serious injuries to her baby when she tried to smother him last
A 31-year-old Dayton, Ohio mother by the name of China Arnold is sentenced to life in prison without parole for microwaving her daughter to death. Barely escaping the death penalty, Arnold has
Getting a new dress for special events is a female thing, but apparently it’s a Beyoncé thing to go above and beyond – defying the laws of nature – and get new skin. This black music artist known for
After NAACP Chapter President Rev. Amos Brown uncovered the disturbing racist history behind the name of a San Francisco preschool, he immediately alerted the community.
This is not the first time, and I am sure this will not be the last time I hear about a former NBA player’s misfortunes. Once the head star for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Lewis Brown, is now homeless and living on the streets of Los Angeles.
It’s like karmic cash. You get as good as you give. And Marie Lumen Clersaint is Brooklyn’s reigning queen of sou-sous — an informal savings club popular among Caribbean and African immigrants. When anyone in her tight knit circle of savers needs a large sum of money, they come to her.
At any given time, Clersaint runs two sou-sous where people come together and make regular contributions to a common fund, which is then disbursed as a lump sum to one member of the group every cycle. The payouts for her current sou-sous are $20,000 and $10,000. They have 40 and 20 members, respectively. Each member puts in $500 bi-weekly. Every two weeks one member of each sou-sou will receive their group’s entire payout, until each person gets a turn. The $20,000 sou-sou runs or 18 months, the $10,000 saving club lasts 10 months. For the person who gets the first disbursement, it’s an interest-free cash advance and for the last payee it’s a no-interest savings plan. And for those in the middle, it’s a combination of both. There are no checks or money orders involved. It’s all cash all the time.
"When people get their money, many personally thank me. Sometimes they even give me a little bit of their payout as a gift. I like to help people do what they need to do in life," said Clersaint who has seen members of her sou-sous use their disbursements to put down payments on houses and cars, pay off their debts and send their kids to college.
Opening a community center bearing their son’s name in Jamaica won’t bring Sean Bell back. But his parents are hoping it will keep his memory alive.
They plan to march Friday from the spot now named Sean Bell Way, where Bell was killed nearly five years ago in a hail of police gunfire, to the opening of the Sean Elijah Bell Community Center at 107-52 Sutphin Blvd.
According to a poll conducted by The Associated Press, four out of ten American families say that the heavy weight of gas prices will put pressure on their wallets in the next six months. Forty-one percent say the up in gas prices will cause them serious
After posting the piece by Dr. Wilmer Leon, a Political Scientist and objective Obama observer, stating that African Americans are jeopardizing our Democratic freedoms by squashing all voices of dissent as it pertains to President Obama, I received this interesting comment from one of my Facebook friends.
His name has been removed, but perhaps there is some logic to what he’s saying. He also appears to be neutral in the Obama conversation, which makes his point even more relevant. His simple, yet poignant statement was something I felt compelled to share with others:
Maybe I can add some insight as to why many Blacks are reluctant to criticize Obama. I think that many of us feel that he is under constant UNFAIR criticism and are afraid that even fair criticism will be seen as just piling on. We can be compared to a mother who is over protective of her child because the father abuses him. She feels that her child should have someone who accepts him unconditionally. As a result she may spoil the child. It’s not right , but it happens. That’s how some view Obama. We see people hoping that he will fail. We see people asking for birth certificates, accusing him of being against America, wanting everything he does to go down in flames, etc. So some of us seem willing to ‘overlook" his faults. It’s not right , but it happens.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.
Good morning from The Oval. It’s shaping up to be a busy – and possibly quite tense – day for President Obama as he prepares to head out of town this weekend on a trip to Europe.
Cory Gunz (23 years old) standing next to his father, Peter Gunz (early 40’s)
After watching the reality T.V. show “Son of a Gun” there were 5 things that I noticed right off the bat:
1.) Cory Gunz is a talent that is so unique and raw. He is an amazing rapper, and it would take a very special person to even be able to get close to where his talent level is.
2.) Nick Cannon and Cory have a great relationship that is not seen in a lot of the music industry. Nick Cannon does not seem like the type of man that just wants to take his cut of Cory’s money and run away, he cares about Cory’s well-being and that is what all managers should be about.
On Tuesday, June 28, MBK/J Records/Legacy Recordings will release new Deluxe and Collector’s 10th anniversary editions of Alicia Keys’ songs in A minor, the groundbreaking debut album masterpiece that propelled a then-teen-aged Keys into international stardom in 2001.
Available in a 2-CD Deluxe Edition and a 2-CD/1-DVD Collector’s Edition, the 10th Anniversary sets include songs in A minor era bonus tracks, demos, live performances and more, hand-picked by Alicia for her fans for these editions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama made her first foray into the 2012 presidential campaign Thursday, telling donors that her husband needs them to "work like you have never worked before" so he can finish the job he started.
Though the first lady said President Barack Obama has accomplished much in almost 2½ years, she told a Democratic Party women’s group that there’s a lot more to do, with a long and difficult campaign ahead.
Addressing the Democratic National Committee’s Women’s Leadership Forum’s annual national issues conference, the first lady hit many of the same notes as the president has in his recent campaign speeches.
She talked about turning around an economy in decline, cutting taxes for the middle class, overhauling the health care and financial systems and providing more financial aid for college students. She mentioned repealing the ban on gay military service and bringing home troops from Iraq after the end of formal combat operations.
WASHINGTON — Seeking to harness the seismic political change still unfolding in the Arab world, President Obama for the first time on Thursday publicly called for a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that would create a non-militarized Palestinian state on the basis of Israel’s borders before the 1967 war that led to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
“At a time when the people of the Middle East and North Africa are casting off the burdens of the past, the drive for a lasting peace that ends the conflict and resolves all claims is more urgent that ever,” he said.
Although Mr. Obama said that “the core issues” dividing Israelis and Palestinians remained to be negotiated, including the searing questions of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees, he spoke with striking frustration that efforts to support an agreement had so far failed. “The international community is tired of an endless process that never produces an outcome,” he said.
The outline for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement came in what the president called “a moment of opportunity” after six months of political upheaval that has at times left the administration scrambling to keep up. The speech was an attempt to articulate a cohesive American policy to an Arab Spring that took a dark turn as the euphoria of popular revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt gave way to violent crackdowns in Bahrain and Syria, a civil war in Libya and political stalemate in Yemen.
It required a delicate balance, reaffirming support for democratic aspirations in a region where America’s strategic interests have routinely trumped its values. While Mr. Obama pushed for Hosni Mubarak’s exit in Egypt, he has backed up the Bahraini royal family’s effort to cling to power. While he called for the resignation of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and supported a bombing campaign against Libya with that ultimate goal, he vacillated as Bashar al-Assad of Syria turned tanks and troops on his people, authorizing sanctions against him only on Wednesday.
Big news is on the horizon for people living with HIV/AIDS.
According to a new study by the United States National Institutes of Health, a person who takes antiretroviral drugs immediately after diagnosis, as opposed to when their health starts declining, can cut the risk of spreading the virus to unaffected partners by a whopping 96 percent.
The study, which sampled 1,763 couples in which one partner was infected, was abandoned four years early because the trial was so successful. HIV-positive patients were split into two groups. In one, participants were immediately given anti-retroviral drugs. The other group received the treatment after their white blood cell count fell. Among those who immediately started the anti-retroviral therapy, there was only one case of transmission between partners. In the other group there were 27 HIV transmissions.
DETROIT (AP) — Don Barden, a prominent Detroit businessman involved in casinos, cable TV and real estate, has died, the mayor’s office said Thursday.
Barden had been sick for a few years, said Karen Dumas, a spokeswoman for Mayor Dave Bing. She had no other details on his death.
Barden’s wife, Bella Marshall, has said in court filings that he had cancer.
"Don was a stalwart leader and businessman in this community, as well as a friend," Bing said in a statement. "We were aware of his longtime illness and dreaded this day. We send our condolences to his family."
Barden made millions with cable TV franchises in Detroit and the suburbs, but lately the news about him was not flattering. Marshall went to court earlier this year in a dispute over this ability to manage his assets.
The small southern town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi has big pride in the blues legend Muddy Waters who called their sweet patch of earth home. There’s a mural that boasts the image of their beloved music artist as well as a memorial dedicated to his life and the music he loved. These historic treasures are threatened by the wiles of nature, however. Once before, in 1927 there was a devastating flood that left Muddy Water’s hometown submerged in just that – muddy waters of the Mississippi River. Yet, the memories of this catastrophe remain crystal clear.
Recollections of the overflowing past evoke fear in some of the residents. Currently, there is uncertainty about the strength of Rolling Fork, Mississippi’s backwater levee dubbed Yazoo. Residents wonder if it will be able to hold back the currents of the river. Despite assurance from the Army Corps of Engineers that the levee will hold, residents like Cynthia Prestianni are boxing up their belongings and evacuating. Prestianni shared, “I’m in disbelief that this is actually happening. I didn’t think that I’d ever see this in my lifetime…I hope [the levee] hold[s]. If not, it’s going to be total devastation.”
An Ohio mother, Saundra Roundtree, was under the impression that her 14-year-old daughter was being chaperoned on her class trip to visit colleges. Little did Roundtree know, her daughter was apparently being counted as a chaperone.
Splintering racial tensions in the sticks of Cleveland, Texas are certainly at an apex while the City Council meets to review the recall election that removed three black members.
In order to be the leaders of households and in our communities there are certain things that we as men have to develop. While every aspect of manhood won’t be discussed here there are a few important aspects of leadership that can be mentioned. If men are to be the “head” that God called us to be we must submit. The Bible tells us “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” –Matthew 23:11 If we want to lead and make decisions we also have to serve. Every great leader was a servant. Jesus himself washed his disciples feet. So what are some of the most important things that we should know how to do as men?
Pray A real man must know how to pray. A healthy prayer life is essential to any success in life that is from God. How can he be fruitful in his life and in his relationships if he does not know how to go before the Father in prayer? A woman must be washed in the word and both the husband and wife should cover each other in prayer. Jesus constantly prayed and he fasted as well. So likewise, we as men ought to pray just as Jesus did. “And he spake a parable unto them [to this end], that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;”– Luke 18:1
Handle his Finances (Provide) A man must be able to provide for his family and while this provision does not only apply to money, finances are a very important aspect of manhood. He needs to be responsible with his income and be a lender and not a borrower. While some of us may still be working towards that goal of being a lender we must in the meantime be faithful with that which we have. Paying our bills on time, having a savings account, investments, money market accounts etc.. are very useful tools. Having money is essential “A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all [things].”–Ecclesiastes 10:19. We must be able to assist others when they are in need, because we are blessed to be a blessing.
